Evening Notes: Jagr, Baertschi, Necas

Hockey legend Jaromir Jagr has hit a lull in his off-season prep, announcing in an Instagram post that he’s suffered a torn hamstring. He’ll now be out for three-to-six weeks, adding that the injury was likely a result of overtraining, which team physio Pavel Kolar warned him against. In a quote translated from Czech by Derek O’Brien of The Hockey News, Jagr said, “When I talked to the physiotherapist Pavel Kolář about the fact that I would like to properly train, he warned me not to do anything that my body is not used to. Of course, I didn’t listen to him… I went for a run. Not the sprints I used to do uphill, but normally straight. But I put weights on my ankles and tore my hamstring.”

Jagr, a partial owner of Kladno, will now miss the team’s remaining four pre-season games and could be out for the start of the Czech Extraliga season on Sep. 18. Kladno has a game roughly every other day from there on out, eating into Jagr’s goal to play in every Extraliga game this season. The inevitable Hall-of-Fame winger has stayed productive into his 50s, scoring 18 points across his last 31 Extraliga games, dating back to 2022. He’s never shown any reason for doubt, and even through a hamstring injury, he hopes to continue a productive playing career in Kladno as soon as possible.

Other quick notes from around the NHL:

• Former Vancouver Canucks winger Sven Baertschi has joined the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks as an assistant coach, shares Ryan Pike of Flames Nation. Baertschi spent two years with the Winterhawks in 2010 and 2011, ultimately scoring a dazzling 240 points in 156 games with the club. That was enough to motivate the Calgary Flames to select Baertschi with the 13th overall selection in the 2011 NHL Draft, though he never managed to live up to that precedent. His career year came with Vancouver in 2016-17, when he posted 18 goals and 35 points in 68 games. Baertschi finished his NHL career with 138 points in 292 games, playing in parts of 10 seasons. That’s a hockey career to be proud of – meager scoring or not – and Baertschi will now look to carry his experience back to the juniors team that helmed his early career.
• Plenty of teams expressed interest in former top trade piece and recent Hurricanes re-signee Martin Necas, shares Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in the latest written 32 Thoughts. Among the interested parties were the Winnipeg Jets and Columbus Blue Jackets, though Necas was ultimately swayed to stay in Carolina thanks to the support of his teammates off the ice. Necas will now look to make the most of his two-year contract after posting 71 and 53 points in the last two seasons, respectively. That’s strong production, and Necas should earn an impressive contract when he becomes an unrestricted free agent, pending any collapse over the next two years.